Improving your broader impacts

This guide provides basic information for scientists who wish to engage in education and public outreach (EPO). Engaging in EPO can be an excellent way to address funding agencies' requirements that proponents articulate the broader societal value of their research.

This site provides resources for scientists interested in becoming involved in Education Outreach (E/O). The ReSciPE Project (Resources for Scientists in Partnership with Education) focuses on scientific inquiry, and it supplies information on its scientist workshops, research findings about professional development of scientists, and the ReSciPE book (annotated links that have proven useful for scientists in E/O).

This publication gives background information on what scientists need to be aware of when engaging in EPO, including a discussion of state and national standards, No Child Left Behind, standards and assessments and roles scientists can play.

The Geoscience Education & Public Outreach Network (GEPON) is an emerging network envisioned to support effective education and public outreach (EPO) and engagement of the general public with the enterprise of science. GEPON has hosted two workshops on how the geoscience community can engage in public outreach, particularly in regard to fulfillment of Criterion II for NSF grants. Reports from the workshops are available on the website.

Get involved

Project WET is a national program with many curriculum activities for K-12 educators. A curriculum guide is available after 6 hours of professional development. The mission of Project WET is to reach children, parents, educators, and communities of the world with water education. We invite you to join us in educating children about the most precious resource on the planet - water.

LiMPETS (Long-term Monitoring Program and Experiential Training for Students) is an environmental monitoring and education program for students, educators, and volunteer groups. This hands-on program was developed to monitor the ocean and coastal ecosystems of California's National Marine Sanctuaries to increase awareness and stewardship of these important areas.

The NSF Math Science Partnership program has resources for those embarking on University-K12 partnerships. These programs are also conducting research on how university partnerships can enhance the educational performance of U.S. children in mathematics and science.

The NSF GK-12 program aims to place science graduate students in K-12 classrooms for a yearlong experience to increase the role of scientists of the future in K-12 education. This website has links to many of the over 100 GK-12 programs nationwide as well as many curriculum resources for all disciplines of science.

This is the link to the The Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network system funded by NSF. The LTER study sites are mostly terrestrial, but there are some riverine, coastal and marine components and sites. There are some good educational resources too. See "Schoolyard LTER".

Online resources

The library has many collections and albums, including coastal images organized by habitat type and region. The library also contains images of major events (such as Hurricane Katrina) and satellite images. You can search the library by keyword or just browse the albums.

Advanced technologies and real-time data in basic and water science: a curriculum for colleges and high school. This program, funded by NSF, welcomes collaborators that wish to contribute data or materials to this site.

Quicklinks

Click on the following links for more information about Science Education.